General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 6, 2013

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., June 6, 2013

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I knew, I just KNEW, that I was gonna like State Rep. Kim Williams. I had liked her votes, I had liked her positions during the campaign, and I loved her work on simplifying school choice for students and parents. But yesterday she demonstrated why she is an invaluable member of the Delaware General Assembly with this quote, courtesy of the News-Journal:
"Until recently, I was on the Red Clay School Board, and we were never informed of the specifics of this bill. I feel that we need to get more public input."
Or at least SOME public input.  The Markell Administration is pushing HB 165(Jaques) to the max. In fact, I think they tried to put one over even on the legislators who are sponsoring this bill. Rep. Earl Jaques made clear that this bill is not going to be rushed through:
"We have a bill in front of us, let's discuss this bill. The time for the public to get involved is now, while we're discussing this legislation."
Others on this blog have done a far better job of describing the issues raised by this bill than I ever could. What particularly galls me is that we don't even know officially where this bill came from. There was indeed a group created to review ways to improve charter schools. Hell, the list has been provided here. But, get this, even though Gov. Markell appointed the 24-member working group, he claims that this group had no real authority and, as such, public meetings were not required. So much for 'Governor Transparency'. That is one of the most disingenuous things I've heard out of this Administration, which is really saying something. Shades of the Port of Wilmington deal. But, I digress. HB 165 barely made it out of the House Education Committee, 7-6. It is far from ready for prime time. It is June 6. People are already on vacation, including teachers, students, and parents. There is no way that this bill should be worked by June 30. Let's just see what this Governor does...
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 5, 2013

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Weds., June 5, 2013

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SB 97(Henry), which would add 'gender identity' to the "already-existing list of prohibited practices of discrimination and hate crimes. As such, this Act would forbid discrimination against a person on the basis of gender identity in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance, and it would provide for increased punishment of a person who intentionally selects the victim of a crime because of the victim’s gender identity." In Senate Judiciary Committee.  The committee will also consider HB 88 As Amended(Barbieri), which attempts to keep weapons away from those who are dangerously mentally-ill. The bill passed the House with only one no vote. You can read a compelling narrative on behalf of SB 97 here. I can't hope to top that, and I won't. Except to say that the Senate has an agenda today. I don't find much of interest there, but feel free to rummage around.
Did Wilmington’s Mayor Try to Funnel $4 Million to Southbridge Church?

Did Wilmington’s Mayor Try to Funnel $4 Million to Southbridge Church?

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On today's Al Mascitti Show on WDEL, featuring notable guest El Somnambulo, both a City Council member and  a city pastor alleged that the Williams Administration budgeted $4 million that would go to a Southbridge church to help build a gymnasium. According to both Wilmington Councilman Michael Brown and Reverend Derrick Johnson, the church in question is the church of City Councilman Justen Wright.
The Deliberate Destruction Of Public Schools

The Deliberate Destruction Of Public Schools

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First, Education Reform has very little to do with improving education.  It does, however, have a lot to do with union busting and corporations tapping into all that delicious tax payer education money.  It also thrives on propaganda. When discussing education today there's one theme that remains consistent:  Public education is failing our kids!  Our children aren't learning!  Just look at the test scores! Okay, let's look at the test scores:
  • The chart below shows overall reading and math scores for 9-year-olds starting in the early '70s. Since then, reading scores have gone up 12 points and math scores have gone up 24 points. Ten points on the NAEP roughly equals one grade level, which means that today's 9-year-olds are performing more than a full grade level better in reading and two grade levels better in math compared to the '70s.
  • Scores for blacks and Latinos are up more than scores for whites. In reading, as the chart above shows, white kids' scores are up 14 points, while Latinos' have risen 24 points and blacks' 34 points. In math, scores for white kids are up 25 points, while Latinos' have jumped 32 points and blacks' 34 points. There's still a significant gap between whites and other groups, but we've been making steady—and largely unheralded—progress for the past 40 years.
  • Private schools have done well, with reading scores up 10 points and math scores up 22 points, but public schools have also improved in reading (4 points) and math (25 points). Overall, the rise in test scores is due to improvements at both private and public schools.
Interesting, no?  And yet you rarely, if ever, hear about these results.  Don't get me wrong.  There are problems, especially when children reach high school, and that must be addressed, but the idea that public schools aren't educating children is nothing more than the Ed Reformers' Marketing Strategy.
Guest Post: It’s Time for Fairness for Transgender Delawareans

Guest Post: It’s Time for Fairness for Transgender Delawareans

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We welcome back to DL a Delaware politico who made her mark on Delaware politics while still in high school as a member of the Jack Pack. Sarah McBride writes today about her experience as a Transgender person. My name is Sarah McBride. I’m a daughter, sister, friend, film-buff, political volunteer, and a recent college graduate. I’m also transgender. When I came out a little over a year ago, I asked Delaware Liberal to publish my coming out letter in order to raise awareness around gender identity nondiscrimination and the lack of basic protections for transgender Delawareans. It’s 2013. Yet, in Delaware, a person can be fired from their job simply because they are transgender. We can be denied housing or insurance for no reason other than our gender identity. And we can be thrown out of a restaurant or denied service because of who we are. According to a recent survey, more than 25% of transgender people report losing their job because they are transgender and nearly 20% report being denied housing. While the vast majority of Delawareans are inclusive and accepting people, it only takes one person’s prejudice in a state without basic protections to harm someone and to destroy the reputation of a great state. Discrimination based on someone’s identity is inherently wrong and it is certainly not the Delaware way. This month we can take an important step forward in ending discrimination in our state. Last week, Senator Margaret Rose Henry and Representative Bryon Short, as well as nearly 20 other members of the General Assembly, introduced the Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Act of 2013. This bill would add gender identity, a person’s deeply held sense of their gender, to our state’s hate crimes and employment, housing, insurance, and public accommodations laws.
General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 4, 2013

General Assembly Pre-Game Show: Tues., June 4, 2013

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With the final budget details being worked out, the Delaware General Assembly begins its final sprint to the June 30/July 1 session finish line. At least one issue of note has arisen since the Memorial Day two-week recess--alleged unprofessional and dangerous conduct by at least one employee of Planned Parenthood.  You can bet that the Bob Venables' and Greg Lavelles of this world will use this to further their anti-choice agendas. You can expect tougher legislation regulating clinics as a result of the scandal surrounding Dr. Liveright (his real name?) and Planned Parenthood. And, as a Planned Parenthood supporter (financially as well as philosophically), such scrutiny is deserved. One of the most powerful arguments for availability of legal abortion services is that, without them, clients (and there will always be clients) will be forced to seek less safe alternatives. However, when you have Eric Harrah, Dr. Gosnell, and Dr. Liveright serving as cautionary examples, it is incumbent on legitimate providers to demand standards above the minimum of what the law will allow. Planned Parenthood knows their foes will use any pretext to go after them, which is why I really worry about why PP gave it to them. And, in so doing, placing their clients at risk.  Memo to PP and supporters: Don't bury your heads in the sand here, face the problem head-on.

When Delaware Democrats Vote to Cut Food Stamps

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The Farm Bill (S. 954) was being worked by the Senate the last few weeks, in an effort to get a bill done and voted on before the recess. This bill looks much like last year's bill (but adding some additional support for Southern crops such as rice, cotton and peanuts). As this bill came out of the Agricultural Committee, it had cut $4.5 BILLION from the food stamp program over the next 10 years. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand offered an amendment (#931) to restore those cuts:
Wilmington Budget Follies

Wilmington Budget Follies

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For the past few weeks, the back and forth over coming to some agreement over the Wilmington budget for the next fiscal year has been a source of a great deal of cynicism, exasperation and a fair amount of entertainment. While there is not alot to be proud of here -- at bottom we have a new administration who seems to think that they can get things done by fiat. For all of the yelling and screaming about what the Wilmington City Charter says -- it still gives the Administration the power to spend the money that City Council allocates to it. That is pretty basic everywhere. Even though the Council spent much of its time rubber-stamping much of the Baker Administration's work, I wish I could be more hopeful in a more energized Council who will actually do what the Charter expects of them.
BREAKING: State GOP Chair John Sigler Resigns

BREAKING: State GOP Chair John Sigler Resigns

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.... for personal reasons. The News Journal alert I just received described the decision as being abrupt. From the First State Politics blog over at the NJ, Sigler resigned via a letter to party leaders this morning, saying:
“It is with deep regret and a profound disappointment that I must inform you that, due to newly emergent and totally unexpected circumstances that are completely beyond my control, I am unable to continue to serve you as the Chairman of the Republican State Committee of Delaware,” said Sigler, a former National Rifle Association president who took over the party after the devastating 2010 elections.
Here is the thing about Jack Markell

Here is the thing about Jack Markell

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Bob Yearik was kind enough to include me along with a bunch of other luminaries (like that goddam idiot from Caesar Rodney Institute, "Doctor" John Stapleford) in this Delaware Today piece about Governor Markell. Yearick does a pretty good job collecting a bunch of puzzle pieces but never really tries to fit them together. So, what the hell? I'll put them together here. ...
PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update for May 22, 2013

PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update for May 22, 2013

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Not much new this week, since the Assembly is out of session for the next two weeks as the Joint Finance Committee finishes the budget. Still there was some action on the bills we are following, and there have been two new bills that I have added to the Trackers as they seem interesting. The first is Rep. Rebecca Walker's House Bill 131, or the Gestational Carrier Agreement Bill. At first, I thought the term "Gestational Carrier" was an overly technical and political correct replacement for Surrogate Mother. But it turns out that I was wrong. There are two kinds of Surrogacy. One is where the surrogate mother is genetically related to the child she is carrying, or in other words, the surrogate mother used her own egg and had it artificially inseminated by the intended father. This is called traditional surrogacy. If the surrogate mother carries an fertilized egg to term and she is not genetically related to it, that is gestational surrogacy, and Representaive Walker's legislation establishes the legal rights of all involved in a gestational surrogacy. Titles and labels aside, the bill is a good idea, as it establishes into law the notion that these agreements between a couple and a surrogate mother are binding legal contracts. According to the legislation, after the child is born, the intended parent becomes the legal parent of the child and the gestational carrier would have no parental rights. In New Jersey, Governor Christie vetoed a similar law, and his official reason is that it could radically change the traditional notion of the family. Please. This bill allows more families to be created, which I thought was a good thing. The other bill (Senator Hocker's Senate Bill 74) features an unholy alliance of Progressive and Arch Conserative sponsors, all agreeing on transparency and open government. See Democratic Leadership, the GOP is really going after you on transparency. It is a potent issue, and you ignore it at your peril.